Korean Children Pressured to Enter Top Colleges from Infancy

“Children in Korea are compelled to work hard as they are born for entering a prestigious university. To Korean parents, a three-year-old child is a student who should be able to read, write, and count.”

This is what is written in a country note titled, “Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in the Republic of Korea,” a part of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Thematic Review of the Early Childhood Education and Care Policy project launched by the OECD Education Committee. A review team made up of international experts came to Korea in May 2003 to undertake an intensive case study on the education programs for children from birth to compulsory school age, and the report was sent back to Korea in July 2004.

The OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy project was launched in 1999, and Korea was the 15th country to be reviewed.

The report includes review of the current situation of early childhood education and related policies in Korea, and recommendations for the Korean government. The review team confessed that it was shocked to find no ongoing discussions on facilities for nurturing young children. The team pointed out that childcare service is not considered as a right of young children, but rather a paid service that can be provided for dual-income families.

The country note pointed out that the amount of public investment on early childhood education by the Korean government is less than half of the average of the OECD member countries. The fact that the Korean government chose the economic solution of relying on the private sector for early childhood education was quite astonishing, according to the review.

According to “Expenditure on Educational Institutions per Student (2001)” published in 2004, the average of the annual expenditure on educational institutions per student for pre-primary education (children of three years or older) by OECD countries was $4,187 (KW4.81 million). On the other hand, Korea spent $1,913 (KW2.2 million), which is less than 50 percent of the average.

The review team cast doubts on the quality of education offered by private institutes, stressing the fact that most private institutes provide small-scale services, and government regulation of these institutes is extremely minimal.

The team advised the Korean government to improve related policies so that priority is given to the betterment of the children in the field of early childhood education. Also, the team pointed out that the working conditions of parents that currently have no consideration for parental needs should be reconsidered, and the amount of public investment allotted for the education of young children must be increased.

“The Australian government organized a task force team this year in order to make necessary reforms in the early childhood education sector recommended by the OECD,” said Dr. Na Jung of the Korean Educational Development Institute. “Many countries take recommendations made by the OECD seriously, and actively try to find ways to improve the education for the young children.”

An official at the Ministry of Gender Equality commented that when the related legal acts are amended next year, the government will be able to satisfy the instructions made by the OECD.

Yi-Young Cho Jae-Young Kim lycho@donga.com jaykim@donga.com